Alloy



July l0, 11923.y y Llllyl H. S. COOPER ALLOY Filed Aug. 26. 1918 Alwlvess SIL/CUN -NICKEL T00 olT 5f.

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Application led August 26, 1918. Aserial No. 251,375.

lTo all lwhom t may concern.'

Be it known that HUGH S. COOPER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland," in the county of Cuyahbga and State of.`0hio, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Alloy, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to'an alloy comprising the elements silicon, aluminum and nickel, the silicon and aluminum being present in relatively small amounts and the nickel in a preponderating amount. To these elements there may be added either tungsten or molybdenum or both tungsten and molybdenum, but primarily my object is to mix nickel, silicon and aluminum in the most suitable proportions to produce an alloy of relatively low cost which shall be neither too soft nor too' brittle for special services but shall possess, on account of the properties of the component'metals and the .chemical combinations formed, several valuable characteristics, namely: toughness, noncorrodibility, a, low melting point andl extreme hardness at a red heat. The' pro erties of red-hardness, toughness, and a ow melting point are rvery desirable for the manufacture of -castings of all kinds, particularly cuttin tools, while the non-corrodible feature is highly desirable where the Talloy is used for valves, valve-seats, crucibles, annealing` boxes, etc. Thus the alloy is of great utilit 'in the manufacture of dies of all kinds, raw rings for shell forgings and wire dies, engine valves, ornamental objects, weights, etc., and to illustrate thevvalueof the property of red-hardness, dies and drawl v rings made of this alloy when subjected to hot work will last in most cases approximately ten times as long as other materials now in use. Furthermore, the `alloy requires no heat treatment, inasmuch as a ermanent hardness is lproduced by the silicldes which are present in the alloy.

Where the alloyi is used for ornamental.

objectsit may be highly polished and the luster `will beretained for some time. A beautiful blending of colors'- may also be produced on the surfaceofthe alloy by sub- .jecting the' same at a. red heat to abla'st ofi y a1r. y, rious elements in the a These colors are reduced by the yvar loyand are characf teristic of Asilicides.

In the accompanyin sheet of drawings,

.charts shown in my application for Letters Patent filed Feb. 23, 1918,' Serial Number a high tensile stren h, vand lhaving resentations of the hardness curves of various silicon-nickel, aluminum-nickel, and, aluminum-silicon-nickel alloys, and Figs. 2 and 4 are substantially identical to the two 218,791, now U. S. Patent No. 1,278,304 wherein Idisclose the 'hardness curves of certain alloys of aluminum and nickel ;I and aluminum, silicon and nickel. .Howeveig it' should be noted that the charts in the application referred to show alloys in which the proportions require the use of zirconium Ato produce a satisfactory high-speed cuttingtool allo whereas Figs. 3 and 6 inthe 'present app ication show alloys without zirconium or chromium, which as ternary alloys possess the'characteristics' and valuable .pro erties herein stated.

ow referring more particularly to Fig. 1, this chart is submitted to showa binary series of silicon-nickel, 'wherein lessv than ten (10) percent of silicon has proven to be too soft for the service in view, although possessed of a fair degree of toughness. rlhis chart also shows that ari-alloy of silicon and nickel containing more than ten (10) ercent of silicon within the limits given, Whi e suiiciently hard, is quite too brittle for satisfactory service. The sameD objections were found inthe binary series of aluminumnickel, shown in Fig. 2, except that the alloyscontaining more than ten (10) "percent with a corresponding amount of silicon, and

num the alloys are extreme y crystalline and verv fragile. owever, :1i-remarkable chan takes place when aluminum, silicon'and nic el are mixed in' certain definite roportions; that is, l have found by carefiil experimentatlon (as indicated in the charts Figs. 3 to 6, inclusive,) 'that it 'is possiblato produce -alloys of these three metals without the addition of another metal whichare entremely'hard attlie Sametime very tough and possesslvtf ain similar to rol ed steel. I have also ound that to give this combined hardness, me

toughness and strength there must be presl.ent inthe alloy a preponderating amount of 'f' nickel or cobalt and not lessthan three percent each of aluminum and` silicon nor 190m than twelve (1g) vpei-cent al 111i@ titi MMP

ly'harder alloy, but one not quite as tough,

contains about ei ht (8) percent aluminum; six (6) percent silicon; eighty-six (86) percent nickel. The best composition that I have so far discovered for cutting tools concorrodible and have the property of resisting tains ten (10) percent aluminum; five (5) percent silicon, and eighty-live (85) percent nickel, see Fig. 3. This particular alloy easily cuts glass and will withstand severe blows with Ja hammer without fracture. If one (1) percent aluminum-is added to this best composition (see Fig. 3), with Ithe silicon remaining at approximately five (5) percent, the hardness is slightly increased' and the toughness decreased, making the .alloy suitable for cutting cast iron, but without sullicient toughness to be used on steel. This last named alloy represents approxi- `matel Ythe limit in percentage of aluminum,

with ve (5) percent silicon, for with higher percentages .of aluminum, it bemes extremely brittle compared with the alloys of the more desirable proportions in Fi y and 6. Nevertheless, the proportions o elements within the limits given in Figs. 3 to 6, which do not yield thecombined hardness and to hness desired for cutting tools, etc., have vdue and utility in making cast crucibles and other articles which must be nonpowerful acids.' Briefly, the silicon and aluminum impart to the nickel an increased resistance to acid and other corrosive inluences. These alloys moreover, 'have been found to be non-Scalin and resistant to oxidizing influencesf at :gh temperatures (800-11O0 0.), a protective coating apves vconsiderably toughened, and the red-hardparently being formed by slight oxidation, which does not however penetrate the body ofthe metal.`

The ternary alloys described herein are ness greatly increased by the addition of tungsten from one-half to about twentyfive percent; and small amounts of molybdenlmi may also be added to increase the hardness and toughness. If tungsten is presentA in quantities over ten\ (10) percent, the molybdenum need not exceed about five (5) percent, and if the tun en is less than ten (10) percent the moly denum may be present up to an equal amount with. tungsten. If notungsten is used, molybdenum may be used up to about twenty-live (25) percent, and` for the purposes of the present invention, these two' metals may be considered equivalents and the appendedd claims are to be so construed.' Tungsten and molybdenum,` if used, displace the nickel.

The red-hardness which is a property of these alloys is probably due to the complex silicides which are formed in the ternary alloys, these being still further improved on adding tungsten or molybdenum by the formation of .the silicides of tungsten and` t molybdenum, which are` known to be very stable at high temperatures.

y To obtain these alloys I weigh out the specified amounts of metallic silicon, aluini num and nickel, preferably in the formv of shot, and place the aluminum and silicon in the bottom of a crucible and cover them with the nickel. The temperature of the furnace need not be brought to the melting point of nickel as the combination of aluminum and nickel takes place at a point about midway between the melting points jof aluminum and that `or nickel. amount ofheat is given oil' by combination of these two metals, which is suilicient to raise the temperature to a white heat. When this reaction ceases the tungsten or molybdenum vmay be added in the form of powder or high grade ferro. A The alloy is then stirred and theheating continued until the added metals have-been dissolved.

If ferro-tungsten or ferro-molybdenum are used the alloy will contain appreciable A great y amounts of iron. These small amounts of iron seem to have no detrimental eiect. The ferro alloys are more easily obtained and lare somewhat cheaper than the powdered metal; therefore, it is sometimes of advantage to use ferro alloys in place of the respective powdered metals.

What I'claim is:

` 1. A11 alloy composed of a preponderating.

which the percentage Vof either of the last two substances `is not less than three percent and not more than twelve percent.

2. An alloy, comprising a preponderating amount` of nickel and not less than three ies,- y

I amount of nickel, aluminum and silicon in Y,

percent each of aluminum and silicon nor Y more than twelve percent aluminum and eight glement silicon.

3.' ,alloy having a scleroscopic hardness above sixty, containing mainly nickel, together with three to twelve percent aluminum and three to eight per cent silicon.)`

4. An alloy, containing approximately eighty-two to eighty-six percent nickel, six to-twelve percent aluminum, and live to eight percent silicon, the three elements combined having a scleroscopic hardness approximating' sixty or higher, i

memes 5. An alloy composed of a preponderating amount of nickel, aluminum not'less than `three percent nor more than twelve percent,

`amount of nickel, aluminum not less than three percent nor more than twelve percent, silicon notless than three percent nor more than eight percent, and the aluminum being in excess vof the silicon.

An alloy, comprising approximately C ten percent aluminum, five percent silicon, and epreponderating amount of nickel up to eighty-ve percent.

8. An alloy composed of e preponderating amount of nickel, one half to about twentyfive percent of-tungst'en, three to twelve percent of aluminum and five to eight percent of silicon. Y Y

9. An alloy composed of a preponderating amount of nickel, tungsten and molybdenum not exceeding together twenty-five percent and the amount of molybdenum not exceeding the amount of tungsten, ,aluminum three to-twelvepercent andsilicon three to eight percent.

Signed. at- Cleveland, in the county of uyahoga, and State f Ohio, this 22nd day of August, 1918.

HUGH s. coorte. 

